


Together we are stronger

by filhadoboto



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben and Leia meet, Declaration of Love, F/M, First Kiss, Forgiveness, Gen, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo is a pot of anguish, Rey is kidnapped again, angst and fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-07 12:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18873415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/filhadoboto/pseuds/filhadoboto
Summary: Rey is captured by a bounty hunter and taken to the First Order to pay for Snoke's death, but Kylo Ren isn’t at all happy about the news and the reunion with Rey will cause a change of direction in his life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native language, sorry for grammar errors (In google translate I trust!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is captured by a bounty hunter and taken to the First Order.

 

Before even seeing General Hux, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren could feel his contentment reverberating through the Force several feet away from where he was watching the immensity of space.

 

When the General stood beside him on the Finalizer's bridge, his face, always frozen in an expression of pride and contempt, showed an expression of pure triumph and contentment. "Supreme Leader, I have great news." he said in an excited voice and Kylo waited for him to continue. "I just received a transmission from a bounty hunter named Bazine Netal. She claims to have captured the Jedi _alive_. She's on her way with the prisoner and she'll be here in a few hours."

 

Kylo took a deep breath before speaking with feigned tranquility. " _Who_ gave orders for the Jedi to be hunted?"

 

"I gave the order, Supreme Leader. I imagined that the death of Supreme Leader Snoke couldn’t fail to receive due justice. It is not good for the image of the First Order that his murderer go unpunished." Both the General and the other Snoke’s followers had made it clear during many meetings that they wanted to see the Leaderslayer paying for her crime.

 

Kylo fought not to kill Hux right there.

 

"You will not make any further decisions on this subject without first consulting me. Understood?"

 

"But, Supreme Leader, I just wanted to…"

 

" _Understood?_ "

 

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

 

"When the prisoner is delivered, take her to the interrogation room. I myself will do justice for the death of my master."

 

Hux nodded and said grudgingly "So shall it be, Supreme Leader."

 

 

**\---**

 

 

Rey never imagined that one day she would be again a prisoner of the First Order or that she would wake up again in an interrogation room.

 

Like the first time, she woke up disoriented, her body locked into a chair and unable to move. Like the first time, she wasn’t alone in the room, and it took her a moment to realize the silent presence there with her.

 

This time Kylo Ren was leaning against the wall in front of her, patiently waiting for her to return to consciousness, all dressed in black, his long black hair framing his pale face. He was without the mask he had worn when she woke up the first time and that was both good and bad. It was good because she had longed and wanted to see his face for months, and it was bad because without the mask, it was impossible not to see the parade of emotions that passed through his face. Without the mask, she had to face all the pain, anger, sadness and betrayal stamped on his brown eyes.

 

So much had happened from the moment she woke up in a room like this one on the Starkiller base for the first time, and she came face to face with a dark masked figure kneeling before her and watching her patiently while she was unconscious. She had seen Kylo Ren as the personification of the evil that plagued the galaxy, and he had done so many things that were inexcusable that made her wish their path never crossed again. That up to the Force bond that formed between them flourish and virtually force her to talk to him and know him. And what she saw behind the mask was a man full of pain, fear and conflict, someone who was devoured by immense loneliness, someone who was trying to find his place after being left by his own family. Just like her.

 

Rey saw that behind the mask of Kylo Ren, lost in the midst of almost infinite darkness and enveloped in the light as if it were a protective cocoon, was Ben Solo. He was lost and alone and afraid and she believed that he not only deserved, as he could be saved if she went to him. So she had gone to the Supremacy and fought for him and side by side with him. She had done what she could to rescue Ben Solo from Snoke's hands. But she didn’t count on the possibility that he might refuse to leave with her. She hadn’t thought that this decision, the decision to leave the darkness, would be so difficult for him to take. For her, the choice between light and dark seemed easy, but it was not so _for him_ . She understood that Ben Solo needed time. Time to face the consequences of his actions and to find himself. Time to rethink and evaluate his choices and understand that he could choose another path. Time to understand everything that had happened between them. Time for him to realize that his place was not in the darkness but in the light side, beside his family, _beside her_.

 

After the battle at Crait, Rey had decided she would wait for him for as long as it took, for even if this wait was difficult, she knew he was worth it. As she waited for him, she had continued to fight for the freedom of the galaxy beside the Resistance, and now, after months of waiting and a silent bond, they were there, face to face again. But she still didn’t know what path he had decided to take, she still didn’t know what to expect from the man in front of her, so Rey ended up deciding that the best she could do was act like he was still the man who had chosen power instead of her and see what the outcome of that meeting would be.

 

She fixed her eyes on his face. "Let me guess. Are you here to torture me to get information about the Resistance?" He just stared at her and she continued. "If you want to know anything about the Resistance you're going to have to tear it out of my mind just like Snoke did."

 

"I know exactly where the Resistance is." he said in a controlled voice, almost stripped of the emotions she could see in his face. "I also know of all the efforts you all are making to rebuild your fleet and who is or isn’t helping you."

 

She stared at him in surprise. "How..."

 

"The same way you knew how to find me on the Supremacy. I have followed your Force signature to the Resistance hideout and I have been keeping watch over all their steps since then."

 

She stared at him for a moment, anguish and fear taking hold of her being. "How long have you known?"

 

"A few months."

 

She knew he was being honest, but if he didn’t want information about the Resistance, then... "Why am I here? What happened?" She looked at her restricted limbs and said, "How did I get _here_?"

 

He moved away from the wall. "You don’t remember?"

 

She tried to remember the moment of her capture, but her brain was still confused. She shook her head and said, "Am I your _guest_ again?"

 

"You were captured by a bounty hunter and brought here. General Hux offered quite a tantalizing amount of credits to anyone who captured Snoke's murderer alive and brought you here. And before you ask, your friends weren’t hurt and they must have already woken up and realized that you were taken." he said.

 

Great relief had come to her to know that at least Finn and Rose were safe and not trapped in a room like this, being tortured to give information about the whereabouts of the Resistance. "General Hux need not have bothered to have someone hunt me down and spend as many credits as the real murderer was here all the time and now he's the Supreme Leader of the Order."

 

A shadow of fury passed over Kylo's face and he took two large strides toward her.

 

"Yes, _I killed him_ . I killed Snoke to save your life!" He said in a voice filled with anger. "I couldn’t let him destroy the only good thing that had ever happened in my life in years!" His voice rose with every word "You said I wasn’t alone anymore! You said that you would stay by my side and help me and I _believed_ and I _trusted_ you! But you did just like everyone else. You betrayed me and left me behind. I put everything I had, everything I was at your feet and even then you left and left me behind like everyone else did, as if I meant nothing to you! _Absolutely nothing!_ " He finished the last sentence practically screaming and turned his back on her, his hands clenched, his breath racing. Around them, the Force roared with all his pain and anger.

 

Rey felt her heart ache at his words. It was all true. He had killed his own master to save her life. She knew that although she hadn’t given the mortal blow to Snoke, she was as responsible for his death as Ben was. She had said that he was no longer alone, and yet she had abandoned him, she had left him behind. And as much as it hurt to leave, she knew she couldn’t follow the path he had chosen. It had destroyed her heart to leave him, but she had to go her own path and do what was the will of the Force and wait for him to _choose_ to join her. He had every right to yell at her and hate her, though it was impossible for her to hate him after all that had happened between them. But the way she felt didn’t stop him from hating her, that he would end her life so he could plunge deeper into the darkness.

 

Minutes passed until Rey managed to speak, her voice a little louder than a whisper. "So you're here to kill me?" But what she meant was: _Are you here to kill the person who gave you hope and then left you alone?_

 

He stared at her and there was an unexpected gentleness in his eyes. "What makes you think I'd hurt you?" She looked down at her body locked in the chair and back at him. He took a deep breath and his face softened. "Rey, I would never do you any harm."

 

With a wave of his gloved hand, all restrictions that kept her trapped opened.

 

"What are you doing?" She asked, confused.

 

"I'm releasing you."

 

"Why?" After all he had said, she didn’t expect him to show kindness, much less compassion or mercy to her. After all, he hated her, didn’t he?

 

"Don’t you see how important you are to me?" He closed and opened his fists. "Rey, I cannot allow Hux and Snoke's followers to lay their hands on you. They want you to suffer a lot before being executed before the whole First Order. They demand justice for his death and want to make you an example. They plan to torture you in the most ruthless and unhealthy ways. They want to break your body, your mind and your will. They want to show that if even a Jedi falls before the First Order, there is no hope for the rest of the galaxy."

 

Slowly, his words made sense and she realized he was wanting to spare her from being killed by the crime that she was being charged "You're serious, aren’t you?"

 

He nodded. "You are free."

 

She then left the chair and stared at him, uncertain of what to do next. He pulled the lightsaber from his belt and held it out to her. She took it reluctantly, and he took another step, leaving mere inches between their bodies, reminding her of the moment when he and Han had been in that same position at the Starkiller base. She looked at the saber in her hand and then at his face and waited for him to speak. "Rey, I need you to _kill_ me." he said in a voice as low as a whisper, but full of certainty.

 

She felt a lump in her throat and her chest filled with pain once more, as if the beam of the lightsaber in her hand had crossed her chest. She couldn’t have heard right. She stared at him, tears already flooding her eyes. " _What?_ "

 

"Before you run away, I want you to kill me." he said quietly. "If I have to die in this war, let it be by the hands of someone I care about."

 

She stared at him for a few seconds and could see in his eyes that he was serious, that he had already given up on his life, he had given up on _her_ "I _cannot_ . I'm _not going_ to do that." she said, and threw the saber across the room.

 

He looked where the saber fell and then back at her. "I've made many mistakes in my life. I joined Snoke. I killed innocent people in the name of something I believed to be the best for the galaxy. I killed my father thinking it would make me stronger and it destroyed my family and made me even more confused." He took a deep breath and continued "I chose power instead of _choosing you_ . All this time, power brought me nothing of what I hoped it would bring. I thought I would feel safe and complete, but the truth is that the only moments I felt _truly complete_ was when I was at your side, Rey." His eyes wandered over her face, as if he wanted to memorize each of her traces "I cannot bear to see you leave again and I know it's too late now to choose another path. So my death is the best for all of us." He took a deep breath and continued, "Please tell my mother that I love her and that I'm sorry for taking my father away from her."

 

His words hit her like an explosion. She shook her head, denying his request "You can tell her that yourself! Please, let's get out of here _together_."

 

"Rey... please..." he begged and, using the Force, drew the saber back. "The galaxy will be a better place without me in it. _You_ 'll be safer if I die." She shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I gave orders that no one should enter this room without my permission. And when they find out that you ran away and I'm still alive, they'll know that I helped you escape, and Hux will have definite proof that I'm involved in Snoke's death and will do anything to destroy me. I'm strong enough to fight for a while, but they'll end up defeating me and, I'm afraid, whatever they've planned for you will be used against me." She kept shaking her head and he tried to beg her "Rey, ple..."

 

" _No!_ I refuse to hurt you!" She put her hands on his tunic and pulled him against her body, rested her head on his chest and let the tears fall. "You _cannot_ ask me that. I couldn’t even kill you when I considered you my enemy and I wont do it now that I love you." His body stiffened at her words, but she didn’t seem to notice. "I expected my parents' return for years and they would never come back because they were already dead. _Please_ , _please_ don’t condemn me to spend the rest of my life _alone_ and _incomplete_ , waiting for death so that I can join you in the Force."

 

His arms wrapped her body in a tight embrace and he let her cry. He knew very well how loneliness had consumed her and had been her only companion in all those years when she stayed in the Jakku desert, having to survive alone, relying on herself alone. No, he didn’t want to condemn her to loneliness again.

 

When she calmed down, he pulled her body away from him, cupped her chin, and gently made her look at him. Her eyes were filled with sadness and pain. He took off his gloves, wiped the tears from her cheeks, and she closed her eyes. He ran his thumb over her lower lip and felt her wince.

 

"Rey." he said in a voice almost a whisper "I love you too."

 

She opened her eyes again and they were both surprised and amazed, slowly he lowered his head as she stood on tiptoe, and their lips met in the middle of the path. Neither of them had ever been touched in this way by another being, and it was both frightening and fascinating at the same time. They didn’t know exactly what they were doing, but the feeling that they were like this, together this way, their lips pressed together, was too good to waste time thinking about the detail of their lack of experience. Rey's hands gripped his neck tightly, pressing her body even more against his and he ran his tongue over her lips and felt the taste of her tears. Rey imitated his movement, and when their tongues met and began to dance with each other, they both felt that they had finally found the belonging they had always sought.

 

When their lips moved away he kissed her cheek, her nose and forehead and hugged her. She leaned her head against his chest and could hear his heart pounding. " _It's not too late_. Please, let's get out of here together. You can still choose another path, live another life far from here." she said with hope in her voice.

 

"Rey, there is no place for me outside the First Order." he said softly. He would love to be with her and live that unlikely love between them.

 

"Yes, there is. Your place is by my side. Just as my place is by yours. We belong together."

 

He stared at her hopeful eyes. "Rey, I am one of the most hated and feared beings in the galaxy. If I leave this place alive, I'll be hunted for the rest of my life and still put your life at risk." He stroked her cheek. "I cannot live knowing your life is at stake because of me."

 

"I know how to defend myself and I'm powerful enough to keep both of us safe." she said fiercely.

 

" _I'm a monste_ r, remember? After all I've done, I don’t deserve salvation, I don’t deserve to be redeemed... I don’t deserve to be _loved_."

 

"I don’t care. I know you. I know _who_ you are." She put her hand on his heart and pressed gently "I know what you did and I love you anyway." She gave him a small smile. "Ben, everything your mother wants most is have her son back."

 

Hearing her speaking his real name made him feel sad. "Rey, you don’t understand. Ben Solo _doesn’t exist_ anymore. I wanted to be able to bring him back to you, but after everything that happened, after all I lived, there wasn’t much left of him to save. All you and my mother can have is me, _the monster_."

 

"You don’t have just darkness inside you. I know and you also know that there is still light in you!" She laid her hand on the cheek she had marked "The boy you were may have gotten lost, but the man you became deserves to be loved and deserved above all a chance to redeem himself. You deserve a second chance, just like your grandfather did." He looked away from her. "Ben, you cannot ask me to give you up. Not now that we finally meet each other." She made him look at her. " _Please_."

 

"I... I cannot put you at risk."

 

She then lifted her chin in defiance and said, "If you don’t run away with me, I'll surrender myself to Hux."

 

"You wouldn’t do something that stupid!" he said, and she stared up at him, raising an eyebrow and challenging him to pay to see. He stared at her in disbelief, but the resolution in her eyes made him realize he had only one way out. Ben Solo took a deep breath, giving up, "We need a plan."

 

She smiled, pleased and kissed him.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben manage to escape and hide in a place that Ben didn’t expect to set foot again.

 

Their way to the hangar was easier than Rey had expected. All the officers and troopers they found followed their paths as if Ben and she weren’t there.

 

Ben had put handcuffs on her and his lightsaber was with him once again, secure in his right hand. Rey was walking a step ahead of him, her head down, defeated, as a good prisoner should look.

 

Curious, Rey used the Force to read their feelings. Some were really indifferent to what they saw and others were too afraid of the Supreme Leader to ask what he was doing to the prisoner. But what she felt coming from some stormtroopers left her with a tight heart. They seemed to be the same ones that accompanied Ben when she arrived aboard the Supremacy in the Millenium Falcon’s escape pod. These stormtroopers were  _feeling sorry_ for both of them! Feeling sorry for Ben that he had to kill the woman he loved and  feeling sorry that she had no way to escape her fate and end up dead at the hands of the man she loved. The fact that her eyes were still red from crying when he asked her to kill him should make that scene even stronger and sadder in their eyes.

 

She was afraid to find General Hux waiting for them in the hangar with a squad ready to shoot them, but no one tried to stop them when Ben led her into his command ship, the one she had seen at Takodana and Crait. On board the ship, Ben went to the cabin and began to prepare the ship for departure.

 

Rey's body was tense and she was attentive on any attempt to stop their departure. It was only when the ship left the Finalizer’s hangar and entered hyperspace that she allowed herself to take a deep breath and relax.

 

The plan was to go as far as possible from the fleet of the First Order. He would disable all the screening equipment that could lead them to them, and then Rey would contact the Resistance to warn they that she was safe and with  _whom_ . They both knew that in a matter of hours Hux would certainly take control of the First Order and order a search for them throughout the galaxy. Someone like Hux would never risk leaving Kylo Ren alive and take the risk of him trying to regain control of the Order.

 

Minutes later, Ben came back and took off her handcuffs. He wrapped her in his arms in silence and Rey snuggled into his warmth.

 

"Ready to start your new life?" Asked Rey.

 

He smiled. "With you by my side, I'm ready for anything. But I still think you'd be safer with..."

 

"I don’t want to be safe, Ben" she interrupted him "I just want to be with you." He laid a kiss on her hair, grateful for her words. "Where are we going?"

 

"At the moment, I'm only putting some distance between us and the First Order. But I'm thinking of us hiding on some planet in the outer rim. Preferably one that isn’t under the control of the Order."

 

She nodded. "I need to contact the Resistance and tell them I'm okay."

 

He led her to the ship's cabin and Rey sat in front of the communication panel and entered her personal code. She breathed a sigh of relief when a familiar face appeared before her.

 

"Rey?" Said Connix in surprise. "Are you alright? Where are you?"

 

Rey smiled slightly at the other girl. "I'm fine, don’t worry."

 

"Finn and Rose informed us that you were taken away by a bounty hunter."

 

"It's true, but I'm safe now." She said, "I need to speak to General Leia." Rey said. Connix nodded, and a few seconds later the General's face appeared in front of her.

 

"Rey? Are you alright? Where are you?"

 

Rey gave her a smile. "I'm fine and I'm in a safe place." Rey looked at the man at her side. "Leia, I need to talk to you alone."

 

The woman frowned, but still gave orders that she should be left alone. "Okay, I'm alone, you can talk."

 

Rey swallowed her nervousness. "I'm with Ben. He abandoned the First Order."

 

Leia stared at her for a few seconds, her face full of hope and disbelief. She then took a deep breath and nodded. "You need a safe place to stay."

 

"We thought to go somewhere in the outer rim and..."

 

"No. It's very dangerous and risky." Leia interrupted "But I know of a place where you'll be safe." Leia seemed to gulp down before saying "Is  _he_ listening?" Rey nodded and Leia continued "Go to our house in Chandrila. No one would ever think of looking for you there. I'll meet you two as soon as possible." And then her image disappeared.

 

Ben himself entered the coordinates for Chandrila and the ship entered hyperspace. It took them a few hours to get to their destination and he landed the ship in a hangar that didn’t seem to be used for a long time. It was late dawn and there was little movement in the streets as they walked to their destination.

 

When they reached the house, Ben seemed to be petrified. He looked around, as if he feared that someone was about to kill him. Rey looked at him and there was fear on his face. She gave him a slight squeeze and they moved on.

 

He typed the code on the panel next to the door very slowly, as if he was afraid to enter the wrong code, and then he put his hand on the panel. Seconds later, the door opened and he breathed in relief. They entered the house in silence, hands clasped. 

 

The sunlight was bathing the room and Ben looked around and was surprised to see that everything was still practically the way he remembered. A teenager had left that place and now a man came back to try to reconnect with the person he had once been.

 

He led her through the rooms to the bedroom that had been his. The room was exactly the way he remembered leaving it the day his parents sent him to his uncle's training temple. He'd always thought his parents had gotten rid of everything that made them remember him.

 

Scattered on the walls, several sheets of paper were still hanging, displaying his progress in calligraphy and his first sketches of drawing. He touched a sketch he had made of C3-PO and R2-D2, one of his mother's and stood in front of one of Falcon's. His heart ached as he remembered the day when he'd done that. He was proud of his work and was excited to show his father, but ended up hearing an argument between him and his mother and he was the main subject. Neither was happy with the way he was dealing with his powers and when the word  _monster_ was said, he had sneaked back to his room and cried until he fell asleep, trying to ignore all the venomous whispers of Snoke in his mind.

 

Rey watched him curiously, leaning against the doorframe. He gave her a smile and held out his hand to her. She smiled and walked over to him.

 

"Are you alright?"

 

He nodded. "Yes. I was only struck by some painful memories of the past."

 

"You never imagined you'd come back, would you?"

 

"No. I thought my destiny was to die fighting for Snoke and the First Order. Being here again, after everything I've done, after everything that has happened... doesn’t seem  _real_ , it doesn’t feel  _right_ ."

 

She looked closely at his face. "You're scared to meet her, aren’t you?" He nodded. "Ben, all she wants is to have her son back."

 

He gave her a sad smile. "There was so little left of the old Ben. I don’t know if she'll want to, if she's going to be able to love the person I've become." Rey stroked his cheek and he closed his eyes before adding "And she has every right to make me pay for my crimes."

 

"Ben, this isn’t what she wants."

 

"That's what I  _deserve_ and that's what I would do if I were in her place."

 

She held his face in both hands. "Ben, look at me." He opened his eyes and focused them on her face. "I know you regret what you did. I wouldn’t be here with you now if I didn’t know that. You chose to follow another path and you can show everyone how much you regret helping us defeat the Order and end this war once and for all."

 

He nodded and smiled. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"

 

She smiled and placed a light kiss on his lips. "I guess I'm still not totally convinced." she said with her lips touching his.

 

Ben smiled and pressed her body against his. "Then let me fix it." he said and kissed her.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mother and son are finally reunited.

 

The sound of a throat clearing made the two parted and looked in the direction from which the sound had come.

 

Standing in the doorway, looking at the two with what seemed amusement and surprise on her face, was General Leia Organa Solo. They were so absorbed in each other that they hadn’t noticed her approaching. If she were an enemy, they would both be dead.

 

He felt his face warm and knew that both his face and Rey's were flushed. He had never imagined that one day he would be caught by his mother with a girl in his room.

 

She looked at Rey and gave her a faint smile. "Rey, please let me talk to him alone."

 

"Of course, General." she said as she released herself from Ben's embrace and gave him an encouraging smile before leaving them.

 

"Thank you, dear." she said as Rey passed her. Leia closed the door and Ben watched her, not knowing what to  _say_ , what to  _do_ or how to  _act_ . His mother's face was unreadable as she turned to face him.

 

The Force around her was quiet, like a calm sea before a storm. He was one of the most dangerous beings in the galaxy, but there, standing before his mother, he felt like a little boy once more.

 

Nervously, Ben swallowed hard as Leia began to take slow steps toward him, as if afraid that if she made quick movements, she would scare him and make him run away from her. He closed his eyes as she lifted her hand and carried it toward his face, waiting for the impact of the blow and the pain. Yes, he deserved to be punished, he deserved her contempt after what he did to his father and... The soft touch of his mother's hand landing on his face surprised him, and when he opened his eyes, his mother was smiling and her eyes were full of love and unshed tears.

 

" _My son_ .  _My Ben_ !" she said with so much love and care and longing in her voice that he fell on his knees in front of her. He didn’t deserve this, not after everything he'd done. Leia knelt as well and held his face in her hands. "I waited so long for the day when I would see my son's face again. I so wanted to be able to wrap you in my arms once more."

 

Hot tears rolled down his face and he took several deep breaths before he could speak. "Don’t you  _hate me_ ?"

 

She smiled and wiped his tears. "I could never hate you, Ben. You are and always will be the person I  _love most_ in this galaxy." she placed a lingering kiss on his cheek "I've been waiting all these years,  _longing_ for this moment." she continued after a few moments. "For finally being able to hold you and be with you again.  _My son_ ."

 

"Mother, I'm sorry." he said in a whisper. " _I'm so sorry_ ."

 

She wrapped her arms around him. "I know, my dear, I know."

 

He hugged her too and closed his eyes again. Mother and son wept clutching each other and the two eventually accommodated in Ben's bed. His mother held him tight in her arms and he let himself relax as his mother ran her hands tenderly through his hair. He could smell her and many memories of his childhood with his parents and old family friends surfaced in his mind.

 

"I should never have sent you to train with Luke. I'm sorry."

 

"I thought you two didn’t want me. I thought you didn’t love me anymore because I'm a monster just like my grandfather and that's why you sent me to Luke. And when he tried to murder me I was..."

 

" _What?_ " Leia asked, her body tense. " _What did you say?_ " He turned to look at her. "Luke tried to  _murder_ you?" She asked.

 

"Yes." he said, confused by her reaction. Was it possible she didn’t... "It was soon after I found out who my grandfather was. He went to my room and tried to murder me while I was asleep. I woke up and found him with the saber ignited and about to kill me." Leia stared at him, horrified as she heard him "I defended myself by knocking the roof over him."

 

"Ben, that's _not_ _what_ he told us. That's not what he said to your father and me." she said, the Force around her roaring with her fury. "He said you had turned against him and killed part of his students and fled with the other."

 

"But that's what happened, mother." He said "And he admitted everything to Rey." Ben felt angry and sad as he recalled that night. "I thought he was dead and when the other students saw what happened, some of them tried to kill me, but I defended myself and..."

 

Leia hugged him and laid a kiss on his hair. "I've spent all this time thinking that Snoke had managed to corrupt you and made you turn to the dark side."

 

"Snoke did everything to turn me to the dark side and for a long time I believed that this was my destiny, that I should embrace the darkness within myself and become someone even more powerful than my grandfather had been. But the light was always there and I did everything for it to be excised, I did what Snoke said would make me stronger and... and kill  _him_ , killing my  _father_ only made me even more full of conflict, even more confused, only made me feel more and more divided between light and darkness."

 

Ben heard his mother gasping and her arms pressed his body even closer against hers. "Han... he... your father died thinking that you had so much of Vader in you. He died thinking that you had been corrupted by the darkness. Ben, your father loved you so much and he also suffered for losing you."

 

"I know he loved me and I killed him anyway. I thought so I could be the new Vader that Snoke wanted me to be. I... I'm sorry, mother."

 

"I know. And I'm sorry we didn’t  _fight_ for you, Ben. Your father and I believed that you had  _chosen_ the dark side, just as my father had. We should have looked for you and brought you home and kept you safe, but instead we..."

 

"But instead you believed in Luke and gave up on me, and went on with your lives as if nothing had happened." he added, and she nodded. "And I believed my parents didn’t love me, that you thought I was a monster and that you didn’t want a son like me, someone who was equal to the terrible and hated Darth Vader."

 

"Forgive me, Ben. I always tell everyone that it is necessary to keep hope even in the most desperate moments, that _hope is like the sun._ _If you only believe it when you see it you'll never make it through the night_ , and I stopped following that advice myself. Your father and I lost hope in you when you needed us most."

 

For a few seconds he looked within himself and realized that he had never stopped loving her or his father. And now that he had rediscovered his way home, he wouldn’t give it up. "Let the past die, mom."

 

"Let the past die?" She repeated, and he nodded "Ben, that means you forgive me and that will stay with your family?"

 

"Yes." he said, and placed a kiss on her hand. "I couldn’t hate one of the people I love most in the galaxy."

 

Leia smiled and hugged her son even stronger in her arms. After a few moments of silence, she began to hum the song she used to sing to make him sleep while stroking his hair. Ben smiled as he realized that he remembered every note of that song and fell asleep, protected in his mother's loving embrace.

 

He fell asleep before he heard the words whispered by his mother. "Luke, you're very  _lucky_ to be dead already. Or I'd turn this entire galaxy around to make you pay for what you did to my son."

  


** \--- **

  


Rey watched the movement in the street through the window as Leia entered the room. More than three hours had passed since she had left mother and son alone. They both had almost a decade of catching up. For the first few minutes, she'd been worried about the direction their conversation would take, but as time went on and the absence of screams or the sound of things being broken she allowed herself to relax.

 

The General smiled and Rey could feel her happiness and contentment through the Force. She wrapped her arms around her and said, "Thank you for bringing my son back home, Rey."

 

The girl smiled and hugged her too. "I think he already wanted to come back, he just couldn’t find his way back."

 

"So thank you for lighting his way back to me."

 

She nodded. "And how is he?" Rey asked as the two separated.

 

Leia smiled. "He's fine. I believe we said all we had to say to each other and he fell asleep in my arms." She looked her in the eyes. "I thought I would die without seeing my son's face again and now he's home again and I could cherish him in my arms and make him sleep, as I did when he was just a baby." Rey smiled and Leia continued "Now tell me how you two ended up like this, together? How about you tell me everything that happened?"

 

" _Everything_ ?" Asked Rey, and she nodded. "This is going to take a long time." Leia smiled and led her to the couch, where they sat side by side. Rey took a deep breath and began to speak. She spoke about the vision she had had by touching Anakin's saber at Maz Kanata's castle in Takodana. She talked about the strange bond that was formed between them in the interrogation room and how that bond had completely changed their lives. She told her the truth about Snoke's death and how the months after Crait had been difficult because she missed him immensely but didn’t want to interfere with his choices. She told her about waking up again in the interrogation room and about everything that had happened and about their escape and about how happy she was that he had finally chosen to be by her side.

 

When Rey finished speaking, Leia held her hands between hers. "You kept hope even when it seemed you had no more reason to have faith."

 

"There was always light in him, Leia. He just didn’t know he had a reason to choose it instead of the darkness."

 

"Rey, my son told me that Luke tried to murder him."

 

"It's true, Leia." Rey said and told her the story Luke had told her before she left Ahch-To. "But know that Luke regretted the moment he ignited the saber. He would never hurt Ben."

 

"But even so the damage was done." Leia said angrily. "My son spent years thinking that his own family considered him a monster and that we didn’t love him. He did so much harm to himself by trying to disconnect from us and from his past, I spent years away from my son and blamed myself for not being strong enough to protect him from Snoke's influence. And Han... Han spent years fleeing, thinking that this was Ben's fate and died thinking our son was lost forever."

 

"I'm sorry this happened to your family." Rey said and hugged her. "Luke really regretted what he did. He went into exile because he thought that this was the punishment he deserved: to spend his life alone, away from everyone he loved and die with no one who loved him around."

 

Leia stared into her eyes and smiled. "You're a very forgiving person, Rey." The girl frowned and Leia explained, "Only someone with this ability to see  _the best_ in other people and forgive their worst sins could be able to bring my son back home."

  


** \--- **

  


The sound of women's laughter woke him. Ben took a few seconds to realize that he was in his old house, in his old room, in his old bed. He didn’t remember falling asleep or the last time he had as quiet and restful sleep. He took the blanket off his body and realized that someone had taken off his boots and some of his clothes and he couldn’t help but imagine his mother dealing with his enormous sleeping body so he could be more comfortable. He smiled as he realized how her gesture made him feel  _loved and protected_ .

 

The sun was setting as he got to his feet, ran his hands through his hair and followed the sound of laughter. The two women were in the living room, watching old holos containing footage of his family. He recognized himself trying to keep himself upright as he took his first steps.

 

"He used to follow his father around the house, like a second shadow." said his mother. "And there was a time our droid became careless during Ben's bath and Ben ran naked across the house because he thought he heard the sound of his father's ship."

 

Rey laughed to hear about this embarrassing event in his life.

 

"He was my hero and I wanted to be like him." he said and they both looked at him. He felt his heart fill with emotion as he saw the happiness on their faces. Rey reached for him and he walked over to her, took her hand and she stood up and hugged him. "It's not fair to talk about events I don’t remember, mom."

 

"That's why holos exist, Ben. To remind us of the good things that have happened." Leia countered with a broad smile.

 

"How long have I slept?"

 

"A few hours." said Leia. "Time enough for Rey to tell me everything that happened between you. I'm so glad the Force has joined your paths." 

 

He felt his face flush, held out his free hand to Leia, and she stood and hugged him. He laid a kiss on his mother's hair and a soft kiss on Rey's lips. "I love you two."

 

"I know." The two women responded at the same time, and the three of them started laughing.

 

Ben swore to himself that he would do whatever it took to deserve the love and faith that they put in him. He had tried to flee from his past, he had tried to destroy it in order to become stronger, but he had never felt as  _strong_ and  _complete_ as he now felt with those two women whom he loved so much, and who represented his past and his future, secure in his arms.

 

The past had haunted him for a long time and now that he had finally faced his fears, he was ready to  _move on_ .

  


** The End **

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I saw TLJ I wanted to write a story where Ben and Leia would meet and she would finally know why Ben chose the path he chose.  
> To write their reunion, I relied on my relationship with my mother. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and remember to leave kudos or comments if you have liked it.  
> My Tumblr and Twitter: @filhadoboto


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